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Cooper Hewitt National High School Design Competition

I am so happy to see our nation's young people thinking about ways to solve huge problems.

Earlier this week, I was invited to New York City’s Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum to judge the second annual National High School Design Competition, organized in collaboration with Target. This year, students were asked to develop a plan, a system or a product that would provide communities better access to healthy, fresh, affordable foods. The contest was open to all high school students across the country between 13 and 19-years of age. I was thrilled to be a part of this judging panel, and to hear the finalist entries. Other judges included Caroline Baumann, director of Cooper Hewitt; Katherine Darnstadt, founder and principal architect of Latent Design; Siggi Hilmarsson, founder of Siggi’s Yogurt; Sam Kass, former White House Chef; Jason Mayden, CEO of Super Heroic Inc. and former senior global design director at Nike; Todd Waterbury, chief creative officer at Target, and Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant and founder of the Edible Schoolyard Project.

This is the judging room, where the three finalists presented their ideas.

Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant and founder of the Edible Schoolyard Project was also a judge. Unfortunately, she was unable to make the trip, so she joined via Skype.

These are the three finalists: Anne Jang from Irvine, California; Rostam Reifschneider from Rancho Santa Fe, California, and Tova Kleiner from New York City. (Photo by Dana J. Quigley Photography)

Rostam’s submission is called “Comida Fresca” – it provides a special meal subscription plan for day laborers that allows them to pay only when they are working. (Photo Dana J. Quigley Photography)

The “Comida Fresca” stand offers fresh food options, with a “buy 1 get 1 free” deal. Day laborers eat lunch and receive a take home box for dinner. (Photo Dana J. Quigley Photography)

Rostam provided a sample of his Meal 2 Go dinner box that accompanies each lunch.

I thought his idea would make another great use of food trucks in local communities.

Tova submitted an idea called “Doorstep Market: Lettuce Visit”, which focuses on delivering fresh produce to seniors and those who are homebound. (Photo by Dana J. Quigley Photography)

Tova explains how the produce is sourced from local farmers and markets, packaged into a special divided container based on longevity, and then delivered weekly by students. (Photo by Dana J. Quigley Photography)

I felt Tova’s idea was excellent – creative, innovative and one that promotes health of mind and body.

Finalist Anne’s project is called “Find Food”. It uses special street signs to guide people to neighborhood stores and markets selling healthier eating options. (Photo by Dana J. Quigley Photography)

Anne explains how her idea would be part of local infrastructure plans. (Photo by Dana J. Quigley Photography)

I thought this may work really well as part of a digital app., which could be developed with individual towns and municipalities. I loved hearing all the ideas.

Entries were evaluated for overall design excellence, innovation, impact and relevance. All the judges put a great deal of thought into their evaluations. (Photo by Dana J. Quigley Photography)

Here I am at the judging table with the other evaluators. We all had sheets where we would write down our specific assessments of each entry.

After the three finalists made their presentations, we deliberated for awhile and announced the winner.

15-year old Tova, in the center, is the winner of this year’s National High School Design Competition. Tova’s winning design will be featured at Cooper Hewitt during National Design Week in October, at the Target Fenway store in Boston, and on cooperhewitt.org. Tova will also have the opportunity to learn more about design through mentoring opportunities in the coming months.
(Photo: Dana J. Quigley Photography)

Here I am with the judges and this year’s winner – congratulations, Tova! It was wonderful to meet all the finalists and to hear their solutions – they all did a great job. (Photo by Dana J. Quigley Photography)